R2-L3 - TLC - Build A Droid

Name: R2-L3Collection: The Legacy CollectionNumber: N/A (Build A Droid)Source: Attack Of The ClonesAvailability: February 2009License: Hasbro

Per Wookieepedia, "R2-L3
was an astromech droid present in Mos Espa during the time that
Anakin Skywalker went to ask Watto about Shmi Skywalker's whereabouts." And
this is certainly true because he comes and goes in and out of
frame in a matter of seconds (in the very distant background, no
less). In other words, not that much is known about this droid
at all. And while we will wait for an Expanded Universe to develop
its background story a bit more, we can certainly enjoy the small
masterpiece Hasbro has made in the Droid Factory pack-in subset
of action figures. This Build
A Droid has quickly become one of
our favorites in The Legacy Collection and we have good
reason to feel this way. The droid does appear very quickly in
the same seen as R4-J1 (another Build
A Droid), R2-D2, and what
looks to be R5-D4 (although we could be wrong about R5-D4). And
while you need to keep your eyes open just to catch a glance of
them, they are noteworthy droids because of their bright coloring
and unique details. And actually, it doesn't matter how well you
see or don't see them in Episode II, because R2-L3 is an excellent
astromech to add to your Attack Of The Clones sub-collection
of figures. R2-L3 is cobbled together from the required figures
found in wave
5 (the A
New Hope wave)
of The Legacy
Collection. And since we recommend all of the figures that
include this droid's parts, you should have no issue assembling
it. R2-L3 is very brightly painted and if you compare it to the
other Build
A Droid figures, you will easily see just how colorful
it indeed is. Most of his body is a very rich red with plenty of
blue, silver and white highlights aptly placed across the figure's
frame. He is striking to say the very least and looks like no other
astromech we have received thus far. There are so many fine details
and we are thoroughly impressed with how well Hasbro captured them
on the action figure. Apparently, Hasbro has many more sources
to refer to when creating figures than the casual collector does.
And this is quite understandable.

For trivia buffs,
you’ll be interested in knowing that in early Hasbro production
photos and presentations, this figure was originally called R2-N6.
And while we may never know the reason the name was changed (it
seems multiple Build
A Droid figures have gone through the name
game), we can tell you that this was a move initiated by Lucasfilm,
Ltd. It seems like a lot of work for them to say "no Hasbro,
please name this droid R2-X0," but apparently they do and
we are sure it makes unnecessary work for Hasbro. R2-L3 has all
the necessary articulation we have now come to accept as the standard
for astromechs, so the droid doesn't offer any surprises or anything
new to collectors. But, the articulation is excellent and it is
an arrangement of movement that suits the astromechs perfectly.
And if you're familiar with the Build
A Droid group of figures,
you know most of these parts already! If you are an adventurous
droid builder, you probably have already mixed and matched parts
to make a whole bunch more droids too! (We admit we have also.)
The different colors look great together. And Hasbro has done a
great deal to get these droids just perfect. R2-L3 is a fine example
of a very strategic and exact paint application. Ultra-thin blue
hair-like patterns on the figure's body create such an amazing
look on this droid. And it helps significantly to stand out from
the others. R2-L3 is a very special astromech simply because of
his beautiful coloring. And with a few rare exceptions, how often
do we get a solid red droid? It is definitely not that often at
all. And while some of the dirty wash is missing from the final
product (as seen in early Hasbro pre-production photos), it seems
that Hasbro did indeed do their best to create a dirty film covering
on top of the color paint applications themselves instead of using
an expensive final wash over the figure. In short, the style they
used to decorate this figure works very well!

If you collected wave
5 of The Legacy Collection, then you have R2-L3 whether
it was your intention or not to collect the parts. We do however
recommend taking your time to put him together and take in all
of artwork that went into the figure. This little droid is such
a triumph and we would like to encourage you not to overlook it
by having it get lost in your growing collections. R2-L3 is absolutely
a standout droid in The Legacy Collection and we know
our declared status of it will transcend into your collections
and allow you to feel the same way too. It is simply amazing how
a little extra careful planning on a figure can make from so-so
to jaw-dropping. If Hasbro continues to deliver top notch figures
like R2-L3, we can expect the Droid Factory gimmick to deliver
some stunning future droids. And while we are on that topic, we
hope there won't be any end in sight for this pack-in premium.
When all is said and done with the "blue phase" of The
Legacy Collection, a fair share of the basic figures will
have been based on Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones.
All we can say is that R2-L3 is indeed one of the best characters
based from this Star Wars source so far in this collection and
this droid will round out your Episode II sub-collections very
nicely. We acknowledge the worthiness of this droid in this exclamation
just because oh how awesome its paint job is. Droids are easy favorites,
but this droid is absolutely a small masterpiece. We hope you don't
take our raves too lightly. R2-L3 is worth your attention and we
know it will be one of the standout centerpieces for your Attack
Of The Clones action figures. Directly or indirectly, pick
it up today! It is that good! Trust us on this one! R2-L3 is proof
positive that the Build
A Droid pack-in premium should never go
away. But that is very unlikely unfortunately.

Collector Notes

R2-L3

Status: R2-L3 is an all-new figure that utilizes the R2-series astromech Build A Droid sculpt. It can be built from 5 individual parts split across the following figures: